Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Kinross Gold (KGC) CFO Paul Barry Steps Down

Paul Barry, the CFO of Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC), is the latest top executive to leave the company, a couple of months after CEO Tye Burt was replaced by J. Paul Rollinson in August.

The stated reason for leaving was the usual “to pursue other interests,” although it is a surety that it follows on the heels of the reason Burt left, which was to boost margins, lower costs, and better capital efficiency.

Although it's not a certainty it's tied in to this move, today Morgan Stanley (MS) downgraded the miner from an “Equal Weight” rating to an “Underweight” rating.

Even so, most analysts have been more positive on the company, with Deutsche Bank (DB), RBC Capital and TD Securities all looking favorably on the gold miner. Deutsche has a "Buy" rating on Kinross; RBC Capital has an "Outperform" rating on the company; and TD Securities also has a "Buy" rating on them.

As for a new CFO, there has been no candidate named to replace Barry, who evidently announced his exit suddenly, or else Kinross would have had a replacement in place. Kinross says Barry will stay on until a new CFO is found.